By Gavin Mackintosh-
Norfolk and Norwich hospital are under real pressure from MPs and campaigners to explain how an excess of £2.9m was paid to Octagon Healthcare as part of the private Finance Initiative contract that governed the building of the hospital.
Norfolk MPs Clive Lewis (Labour), Norman Lamb (Liberal Democrat), and Richard Bacon (Conservative) have written to N&N chief executive Mark Davies, asking him to investigate without delay. The eye of media.com have added our voice to the appalling levels of overspending and the seeming propensity of the big players in the hospital to escape accountability. Norfolk and Norwich hospital press officer told the eye of media.com a few weeks ago when we first covered the story, that disclosing any further details would be damaging to their commercial interests, adding that the hospital was ”handling its own issues internally”.
Every year the Norfolk and Norwich hospital pays money to Octagon for repayment of the building of the hospital in 2001, and also to maintain the site. However, the hospital paid in excess of £150,000, according to figures seen by the local
Eastern Daily Press.
The payments relating to maintenance and other costs have sent shock waves to locals and Mp’s in the area, who are demanding an answer from unscrupulous bosses at the hospital who have so far declined to comment, citing ”commercial interests” as their reason’. The precise reason the public has a right to know how they have been spending money which could be better spent helping patients in their hospitals and addressing the almost crippling levels of homelessness in Norfolk and Norwich.
Norfolk MP’s Clive Lewis (Labour), Norman Lamb (Liberal Democrat), and Richard Bacon (Conservative) have written to N&N chief executive Mark Davies, asking him to investigate without delay. The eye of media.com have added our voice to the appalling levels of overspending and the seeming propensity of the big players in the hospital to escape accountability. Norfolk and Norwich hospital press officer told the eye of media.com a few weeks ago when we first covered the story, that disclosing any further details would be damaging to their commercial interests, adding that the hospital was ”handling its own issues internally”.
The annual fee paid by the hospital to Octagon is adjusted every six months in line with a measure of inflation.
However, a discrepancy between the contract’s reference date and the date used by Octagon in its invoices to the N&N is alarming and raises serious questions.
Octagon has consistently used the RPI for March 1995 instead in all its invoices, which gives a higher rate of inflation than the April measure.2015. However, the N&N is stuck with the contract until 2037 at the earliest, with the hospital poised to pay over £1bn in return, which is close to five times the cost of the building and opening of the hospital. It is a ridiculous state of affair, and the hospital bosses must not be allowed to escape thorough investigation and public transparency over this huge overspend.